


The Blow Up

by james



Category: Hawaii Five-0 (2010)
Genre: Angst, Established Relationship, M/M, flashfic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-11-07
Updated: 2011-11-07
Packaged: 2017-10-25 19:52:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 603
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/274115
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/james/pseuds/james
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It's the next day, and Danny's not sure he's ready to face it. Written for the flashfic challenge "The Morning After."</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Blow Up

He forces himself out of bed, moving carefully so as not to disturb Grace, who is sound asleep in the center of the large bed. And she _is_ sound asleep, finally, and Danny is grateful for a thousand things but right this very minute he's most grateful for that. She looks peaceful and he can only pray that she stays that way for just a little longer.

He goes to the window and looks out, not at all certain what he's going to see. The ocean, because this window faces the water, a small stretch of beach and yard between the house and it. It almost looks normal, except for the color of the sky.

The clouds are dark and thick, and Danny would have almost called it a thunderstorm only he knows what it is, can smell it even through the windows and doors they've sealed shut. He hears a footstep behind him and he turns, sees Steve walk in carrying two mugs of coffee. Steve opens his mouth and Danny glances quickly in warning towards Grace - still sound asleep, curled in the space they'd made for her between them last night even though she'd tried at first to pretend she was too old, protesting she could sleep in her own room.

That decision had lasted until the newscasts out of Seattle had lost signal and the newscasts out of Portland had starting showing the photos: not of Mt. Rainier, but of the western half of Washington. Thermal satellite images that showed what was there, and the pale-faced scientist out of DC explaining over and over just how much of the state would have been destroyed.

An hour later the newscasts out of Portland had stopped as well, though Steve had explained it would have only been because of lost power, maybe evacuation, and he'd spent half an hour with Grace on the laptop, showing her about different sorts of volcanos and how they erupted and -- over and over saying how the volcanos in Hawai'i don't go like that, the lava flows slowly enough you can walk away while it's erupting. Every third sentence out of his mouth had been some form of "we're safe."

Now, Danny doesn't know what to do other than hold out his hand for the coffee Steve has brought. The ash cloud has spread here and Danny saw the map of the world enough last night to know what that means, how big the cloud must be. How large the eruption really had to have been.

He takes the mug and sips it, not glancing back out of the window again. He doesn't think about who he knows -- his entire family is in Jersey, or right here on the islands. But he remembers Sergeant Mankiewicz had a kid who went back west someplace for school, and Captain Richardson had a sister that moved to Seattle ten years ago, got married and had a kid.

"Come on," Steve says quietly. "There's going to be a lot to do today."

Danny is confused for only a moment, then nods, remembering. HPD is going to have their hands full at the airport and hotels, because there are going to be a lot of people who can't go home again. There is no home to go back to, and Danny feels like a horrible person for being relieved that he does, that he and his family are safe with only ash to cope with. But he is relieved, and happy, and when he pulls Steve in for a coffee-flavoured kiss, Steve smiles at him like he knows exactly how Danny feels.


End file.
